


because i know you

by UnmadeEscapades



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (someone let me know if i'm tagging these right), Angst with a Happy Ending, Cat's so wise, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, i just love it when people are in mature adult relationships, like they can fight but they can also forgive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24943105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnmadeEscapades/pseuds/UnmadeEscapades
Summary: Lena has to leave for a business trip in the middle of an unresolved fight and she's pissed off but she also misses Kara at the same time... but does Kara feel the same?(Spoiler alert: she does)
Relationships: Cat Grant & Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 12
Kudos: 419





	because i know you

Lena didn't bother turning on the hotel room lights when she walked in. She threw her heels into a dark corner, and carelessly stripped off all her layers. First the cufflinks, then unsnarling her tie, ripping her hair out of the high ponytail, and taking off each ring one by one. Usually she found this ritual soothing, but nothing could improve her mood tonight.

She considered taking a shower to wash off the stench of cologne and cigar smoke that permeated into her clothing, hair, skin every time she went to one of these corporate events but didn't have the energy. Let it bleed into her, what did she care? If she washed it off it'd just seep back in tomorrow and all the nights after until she could head home.

By touch she found the soft flannel in her suitcase. Kara's flannel. It still smelled like her. She knew the adage, 'never go to bed angry' but what was she going to do about it now? They were having an awful fight, the worst in a long time, and Kara had been snatched away by some distant cry for her help and by the time Lena had to leave for her flight to Metropolis, she still hadn't returned. All Lena could do was leave a note under the vase on the dining table, _CEO Summit in Metropolis, will be back in 4 days x_. She debated even putting the x there, unsure how Kara would interpret it. Would she see the affection or the finality? At the time Lena herself wasn't sure what her heart intended.

So here they were, separated and at a stalemate, for now.

What made it worse was that Lena still couldn't see Kara's point of view on the matter. She firmly believed that aliens should have to register their abilities before being authorised to live on this planet so scientists and yes, law enforcement, could understand what was possible. The tides against aliens had completely turned in the past few years and fears of persecution were unfounded… it was a precautionary measure, nothing more.

This was an old fight that led to new ones. Both of them had a temper and they knew each other well enough to say just the right thing to bring out the most hurt in the other's eyes. Small victories in the moment that only led to greater shame afterwards.

So now for the second night she'd go to bed angry and heartsick all at once. She looked at her phone – no new messages. She opened her recent call history and her finger hovered over Kara's face. Once, twice, she nearly pressed it but she couldn't swallow her pride so she threw her phone over in the corner where her shoes were and climbed under the covers.

At the best of times she found it hard to sleep. In a strange hotel room, veins coursing with bitterness after a long day of old chauvinistic men talking over her, dismissing her suggestions and taking credit for them in the same breath; mad at Kara for not seeing reason; mad at herself for losing control of both situations? It was going to be a long night of tossing and turning.

She slipped on an eye mask to stop herself from glaring up at the ceiling all night and lay there in the huge bed, small and seething.

* * * * * 

She woke curled up to make room for someone who wasn't there. As her memories of the days before flooded back, she took a shaky breath, expecting to inhale the dirty tobacco fumes but instead found a sweet note of plumerias. Disoriented, she sniffed at the collar of the flannel, the confirmation only making her feel worse.

Struggling out of bed, she extricated her phone from the tangled mess of discarded clothing on the floor, belatedly remembering she had forgotten to set an alarm. She only let herself cry gently in the shower because any harder and she hadn't brought enough makeup to cover it, and the day's first session was starting in 15 minutes.

Lena hated these conferences but as the chief executive of her corporation they were invaluable for networking and picking up insider knowledge where she could. The real power plays lay in the unofficial gatherings afterwards where multi-million dollar deals were struck over a third round of whiskeys, murky legislation all but enacted in suffocating private rooms darkened by cigar smoke.

Politeness dictated she be invited but she knew she wasn't wanted there. Whether they had inherited family businesses or were brilliant entrepreneurs in their own right – and very few were both – the US business elite were a boys club and they wanted to keep it that way. 

She played the part as best she could to fit in and further her agenda without compromising her own morals. Naively she thought once she came out that the suggestive comments would stop but if anything they became more pointed, more lewd. She would never willingly expose Kara to this, but Lena almost wished Supergirl was here with a castigating speech and the muscle to back up her threats so that she could watch these men cower in their shame.

Kara. She wondered how her day had been, if that professor of anthropology at NCU had replied to her request for an interview, if she remembered they were running out of laundry powder. If she was also thinking of her.

* * * * * 

When she was out on these business trips, Lena could usually rely on hiding her phone under the table and texting Kara a running commentary throughout the day. She'd send her snide remarks about everything from how Morgan Edge clearly hadn't thought through his proposal on redeveloping the harbourside to how ugly Maxwell Lord's alligator skin shoes were just to keep herself sane. Yet this time the useless device had stayed as silent as the unspoken apologies between them. A little chipped from how roughly she'd cast it aside, but still intact, she hoped. 

She'd done her best to advocate for more low-income housing in the docklands, even offering to fund a significant proportion of it herself. She'd made a solid case in the boardroom and swayed a few people, she could see it. During the session breaks she made a point of continuing the conversations one-on-one with those who'd shown the least reluctance until she'd had them fighting in her corner. She deserved to skip out after dinner and enjoy a glass of wine and a classic movie in the spa of her presidential suite. 

She was delighted to find that the The Wizard of Oz was on and was halfway through composing a text to Kara before she remembered, and set her phone down soberly. All the fire had gone out of her but the ashes still remained. She tried to write out an apology, but reading it back, her words felt hollow in this format and if she was being honest, she didn't know if she fully meant them yet.

* * * * * 

The sun had outshone the moon once again and while the rest of her had awoken, one of Lena's arms was still asleep. Trying not to jolt her outstretched appendage too much, she blindly fumbled for her phone on the side table and found that she still had plenty of time to hit up the breakfast buffet before the morning's keynote address. 

The smell of roasted coffee beans so absorbed her senses that she walked right past the front desk and into the dining area. The indignant attendant tried to stop her but halted when he matched her face to the cover of the latest Forbes magazine displayed on the rack beside him. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure the young woman used to own this entire hotel chain before she'd flipped it for a tidy profit. He sat down and let her be, happy to keep his job for another day.

In contrast, Lena was completely oblivious to the goings on around her until she had downed her first cup of black coffee. Now that she was able to take in her surroundings once more, she was pleased to spot Cat Grant having a quiet cup over by the window before she was due to give this morning's address.

"Mind if I join you?" Lena asked with a smile. 

"Please," Cat indicated at the empty chair across from her.

Cat and Lena had been on the edges of each other's circles for several years now but they hadn't formally met until Kara introduced them. Of course by that time, Cat had begun thinking of her less as That Young Genius Businesswoman Who Was Going To Take The World By Storm Before Anyone Could See It Coming and more as That Woman Who I Know Definitely Doesn't Work Here But Who's Always In My Office Building. One look at her ace reporter's face as they headed out to another lunch told Cat all she needed to know, and since then she was all too happy to take Lena under her wing at events like these and lend her an ear whenever she needed advice from someone who'd been through it all before her. Kiera could do worse.

As Lena was about to take a bite of the first of her pile of danishes, she felt a strand of hair in her mouth. She tried to discreetly remove it but promptly gave up, sticking her whole tongue out to remove the offending object. It caught the morning light shining through the window and she was sad but not surprised to notice that it was long and flaxen, and could only belong to one person. _She sheds like a golden retriever_ , Lena thought not for the first time and likely not the last. She was always finding shimmering blonde strands in between the pages of her books, all over the couch, and now in her mouth. Lena glumly discarded the errant hair onto the floor.

"Power couple having problems?" Cat ventured, astute as always.

Lena smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "Is it that obvious?"

"You walked right past the chocolate fountain and didn't even send her a video to show her what she's missing out on," Cat pointed out.

"Kara would be so jealous," Lena agreed dolefully.

Cat waited till Lena met her eyes. "This time apart will help you both refocus on what's important," she offered. "Chin up, you can get through one more day of Maxwell Lord preening over his reflection in the glass. I mean did you see his shoes yesterday?" the former fashion editor wrinkled her nose in disgust.

* * * * * 

Exiting through to the Arrivals area, Lena scanned the gathered faces a little too hopefully but didn't see a familiar one. Though it was touch and go for a moment, she was pleased to have survived another conference, however her relief at returning to her apartment was overshadowed by what she knew she had to face there. She didn't know what she was going to say to Kara or how to make things better between them but she knew she wanted to try.

Kara was pacing the foyer when she opened the door, clearly expecting her return. Lena strode in, dropping her handbag and suitcase next to the end table, and was surprised to find the first words out of her mouth were a soft but sure, "Thank you."

"What for," Kara asked, arms crossed.

"For coming to my room every night, helping me sleep." Tentatively she added, "I really should make sure to lock those balcony doors."

"That wouldn't have stopped me," Kara scowled under her breath. She reached to fidget with her glasses but remembered she didn't have to wear them at home with Lena. "How'd you know?" she asked gruffly.

"Because I know your heart, Kara, and it's always in the right place... It hurts when we disagree but I trust that we can always find a way to overcome our differences together."

Kara's crossed arms were looking less like an angry stance and more like she was hugging herself. 

"Also, I've never slept that well in a hotel room alone, and I noticed you ate the chocolates room service leave on the pillows every morning. I was looking forward to snacking on those. How many times did you fly over?"

"I was looking for my favourite flannel which you took," Kara accused.

"Well… I bought back some Metropolis Donuts for you," Lena said by way of peace offering.

"You bought me some donuts, or you bought the whole company?" Kara was teasing now.

"I won't make that mistake again," Lena said apologetically.

They'd continue their interrupted conversation later, less hot-headed and more open to seeing the other's worldview this time, but for now…

"If you liked the chocolates they left on the bed, you would not believe the five-tiered chocolate fountain they had at the hotel breakfast," Lena teased her right back.

"No! Did you get a video? You have to take me there!" 


End file.
